Caged Bird
by QueenTyZula
Summary: The ability to fly does not stop a bird from being confined to four walls. But it is never too late, as one man finds out.


Prompt: Bird

Shackles and chains echoed in a prison cell larger than most people's homes. Shackles and chains were the rewards for a lifetime of struggles and heartbreak to a lone bender forever confined within the walls of metal and stone. Granted, this cage is much better than my last home for thirteen years.

It's ceiling is higher, the walls are taller, in other words, it is a lavish cage, a guilded cage, but a cage, nonetheless. I owed it to Lord Zuko for my underground haven. For whatever reason, the man took leaps and bounds on my behalf. I haven't the slightest idea why. In my opinion, I should have suffered the same fate as all of my comrades, but here I am, trapped with the ability to fly.

My mind is always racing between unanswered questions and reasonings on how I failed, losing everyone I loved in the process…

 _Ghazan._

 _Meng Hua._

 _P'Li…_ I try to focus my energy inside my mind to avoid staring at the walls, awaiting my next bowl of rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

As usual, breakfast is served and I peck at it. I hate rice, along with tea. What use is it to eat anyway? To fatten me up? I am the only man who can fly and I am bound in chains! It is a fate worse than death… the fate of the caged bird.

That's right, I know exactly how a caged bird must feel. I could give you a dissertation, maybe tomorrow. Today is different. I can feel it in my element. The air seems lighter…

"Hello, Zaheer".

The voice made me descend to the ground, crashing onto the stone flooring with clanking, heavy chains for emphasis. My lower back sent brutal waves of pain that seemed to paralyze my body. Wincing, I finally sat up on my knees, squinting to focus on the bright, glowing spirit before me, though out of reach.

It did not take long for me to recognize him. I had seen his face many times since I was a boy. I vowed to find him and end him more than once…and failed at that too.

"You," I snarled, upper lip curling at the corners of my mouth like a rabid polar-bear dog. "Coward! How dare you face me, now?" Why I am talking back to this apparition, I'll explain tomorrow, but even if I am finally losing it and talking to a complete hallucination, I need answers.

"I never forgot you, My Son".

"You left me like I was nothing to you," I growled.

"I love you, Son, I always did".

"Then where is my mother? What did you do to her?" Hot tears sting my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

"It's never too late," is my answer, the apparition fading.

 _No!_ I reach for him. All my life I have waited and wanted. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" I cried out to nothing.

He was gone from my life, yet again. Unable or unwilling to answer the questions I had regarding my mother. Who was she? Where was she? I had known from an early age that Avatar Aang was my father, despite his choice to forget his bastard son, in exchange for a high-profiled life as a war hero and friend to the elite oppressors of the world, like Lord Zuko. Everyone knew him as the perfect being with the perfect family. Not the man who chose to abandon his youngest child and rid the world of his mother.

I shake my chains in anger, eyes burning like acid on burned skin. Shackles and chains are my song, now.

"My father is wrong, it is much too late," I say to myself, lifting back into the air and staring blankly at the door, in case, he returns.

Imagine my surprise to see Avatar Korra appear in nearly the exact same place as her predecessor when she enters my cell. Oh, the universe enjoys proving things, hmm? Either way, there is a choice to make…

Smirking to show face, I say to my father's reincarnation, calmly, "You must _really_ be in trouble if you came all the way down here to see me".

 **One shot for the Pro-bending Circuit competition on this site. Also practicing my first person writing. If you are familiar with my writing than you know that I have a headcanon for Aang being Zaheer's father...his mother...well...let me know if YOU guessed it. Hope you enjoyed QueenTy.**

 **713 words**


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